Who, me?

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Published Saturday, April 30, 2005

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, April 27:

The Democrats have jumped all over House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ethical failings, and rightfully so. By all signs DeLay has been quite willing to let Washington lobbyists treat him to fun and games -- overseas golf trips, etc. -- giving the impression his most important constituency is on K Street in Washington, not on Main Street in Sugar Land, Texas.

DeLay's fundraising tactics have been questioned. He has been chastened by the House Ethics Committee for abuses of his power, and he almost certainly faces more scrutiny from the committee -- if the GOP stops meddling with its rules and lets it get back to business.

Turns out this could be one busy committee. An equal-opportunity committee.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Democrats and Republicans are racing to fix their travel and campaign records in preparation for an all-out ethics war they fear is coming.

An aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn't report a 2004 trip to South Korea -- total cost $9,087 -- until she was queried by a Post reporter.

Two Republican House members charge that Pelosi may have violated House rules on a 2001 trip to Puerto Rico. A congresswoman who went on the trip reported that the cost was paid by a lobbyist. Now she says that was incorrect, and Pelosi's aides say the trip was funded by a not-for-profit organization, not a lobbyist.

Then there's Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who took a $1,782 trip to Boston in 2001 that was paid for by a lobbying firm.

Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana discovered that a Washington restaurant hadn't charged his credit card $1,846 for a fundraiser. Surprise, surprise, the controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff is a part owner of the restaurant.

Members of Congress are pleading forgetfulness, or innocent mistakes, or benign ignorance. All excuses, all evidence that the buddy-buddy relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers remains a robust and bipartisan affair.

So, is the House in for another of its periodic embarrassments over the connection between lobbyists' wallets and politicians' greed? There's a long and undistinguished history of that.

There was the 1980 federal Abscam investigation in which lawmakers were caught on videotape taking bribes from a fake sheik. There was House Speaker Jim Wright's resignation in 1989 after reports of huge profits from the bogus sale of his speeches and $145,000 in gifts to his wife from a Texas developer. There was the House check-kiting scandal, and the abuses of power that sent Chicago's Dan Rostenkowski to prison.

And lest Democrats want to complain about DeLay's alleged campaign finance abuses, they can also explain why two fundraising committees affiliated with Pelosi were fined $21,000 last year by the Federal Election Commission for illegally funneling contributions to House candidates.

All this scrambling in the shadow of Tom DeLay is a wonderful thing to behold. So many scandals.

So little learning from the past. So let's scrutinize DeLay ... and the rest of Congress. The line forms here.